Dual-Reactable Fluorescent Probes for Highly Selective and Sensitive Detection of Biological H2S

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important endogenous signaling molecule with a variety of biological functions. Development of fluorescent probes for highly selective and sensitive detection of H2S is necessary. We show here that dual-reactable fluorescent H2S probes could react with higher selectivity than single-reactable probes. One of the dual-reactable probes gives more than 4000-fold turn-on response when reacting with H2S, the largest response among fluorescent H2S probes reported thus far. In addition, the probe could be used for high-throughput enzymatic assays and for the detection of Cys-induced H2S in cells and in zebrafish. These dual-reactable probes hold potential for highly selective and sensitive detection of H2S in biological systems.